Valuing the Cost of Smoking: Assessment Methods, Risk Perception and Policy Options - Studies in Risk and Uncertainty 1999 edition

Marc Notes: This volume is the outcome of a conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland in August 1998--Introd.; incl. bibl. ref. and index. Table of Contents: Introduction; C. Jeanrenaud, N. Soguel. Concepts and Methods. 1. Measurement of the economic costs of smoking in the United States: an historical review; D. P. Rice. 2. Human capital and demographic approaches to estimating the external costs of smoking; D. Collins, H. Lapsley. 3. Estimating the indirect costs of smoking using the friction cost method; M. A. Koopmanschap. 4. Contingent valuation or QALYs; P.-O. Johansson. 5. When does non-smoking save health care money? The many answers to a simple question; J. J. Barendregt, et al. 6. New guidelines for estimating the economic costs of smoking, and results from Canada; E. Single. Country Studies. 7. Economic consequences of smoking in Finland; M. Pekurinen. 8. Social cost of smoking in Switzerland; F. Priez, et al. 9. Commentary on the social cost of smoking in Switzerland; S. Nocera. Risk Perception, Demand and Taxation. 10. Public perception of smoking risks; W. Kip Viscusi. 11. Commentary on public perception of smoking risks; P. Zweifel. 12. Risk, rationality and the consumption of tobacco; A. Markandya. 13. Gender differences in the demand for cigarettes; J. Hersch. 14. How effective are taxes in reducing tobacco consumption? F. Chaloupka. Publisher Marketing: The economic analysis of tobacco consumption is a complex and challenging issue which entails addressing many different questions: what is the economic burden of smoking and do smokers pay their way?; how do individuals perceive their own health risks?; what is the effect of the addictive properties of nicotine on the behaviour of a rational, utility-maximizing individual?; and what is the most effective way to discourage tobacco consumption? In this context, the assessment of the social burden of smoking using a cost-of-illness framework has played a central role since the beginning of the 1970s. Interest in this type of study has grown even more in the wake of the lawsuits brought by American states against the tobacco companies with the aim of recovering excessive medical costs resulting from smoking-related diseases. Economists argue that there is no need for government intervention on condition that smokers receive accurate information about the health hazards - including the risk of addiction - and that they bear all the costs of smoking themselves.